Sunday, August 21, 2011

Glimpses of War, published by The Washington Post

The Washington Post just published Glimpses of War [front page, center, above the fold], about distant thanks to our servicemembers from the American people they serve.

On the home front, reminders of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq come in small doses. [ . . . ]

After almost 10 years of fighting, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq surface on the home front in fleeting, sentimental and sanitized glimpses. Camouflage-clad soldiers lug rucksacks through civilian airports at the beginning and end of their leaves. Their service is celebrated in occasional television commercials, dutifully praised by political candidates and briefly cheered at sporting events.

Troops often question why more ­have not answered the call to duty and why their sacrifices are so poorly understood by the people they serve.

"For most Americans, the wars remain an abstraction," then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said last year. "A distant, unpleasant series of news items that does not affect them personally." [ . . . ]

'Grab Some Buds'

Mike Byrne, the creative director at a Manhattan advertising agency, was rushing through airport security on his way to a Chicago Bears game two years ago when he happened upon a scene from the war: A returning soldier on his mid-tour leave was being swarmed by his wife and children. [ . . . ]

"I literally had to fight the tears, man up and keep walking," he said. "I was like, 'That is amazing.' It never left me." [He created an ad on this theme: Budweiser: Coming Home.]